The author is about to deploy to our forgotten war in Afghanistan, where four Canadians got killed by the Taliban we defeated in 2001 last week , but this is from a Kos diary a year ago and still amusing

And I'm not talking about the guy with the Darth Vader suit and helmet.

I went to the 12:21 AM showing of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith last night. I got there about 11:00 PM and stood in a long line with people of varying ages and walks of life. I met up with a friend who is on mid-tour leave from Iraq, and we hung out together while waiting for the film to begin. The movie was mostly excellent. There were some uneven moments, but I did enjoy it. To my story, then. I was wearing one of my unit t-shirts for the simple reason that I had slept in it earlier and I didn't care to change--it smelled clean enough anyway.

While waiting in line with my fellow moviegoers, We listened absentmindedly to snippets of some of the conversations taking place around me in the three lines for the various showings as we shot the shit ourselves. The conversations were mostly centered around Star Wars, of course, but also current events and occasionally various personal issues.

One conversation in particular caught our attention, and we listened to it intently. A gentleman of about mid-twenties or so was holding forth on the 'war on terror,' democrats, Jane Fonda, and so on. His listeners appeared to be the same age range as he. "We need to kick these raghead murderers out of the country...kill them wherever we find them...expand Israel all the way to the persian gulf and make Saudi Arabia a subsidiary of Exxon..."

His listeners, two of whom were wearing 'OU Young Republicans' t-shirts, were nodding their heads and making generally approving comments.

My friend just shook his head and muttered, loud enough for them to hear "fucking ignorant assholes."

About my friend, Richard--he volunteered to join a unit from another state because he couldn't find work with he shiny new college degree for almost a year. He accepted a direct commission as a 2nd Liutenant of Infantry as part of the mission. He and I had been together as NCOs during the ground offensive into Iraq, and he's as good a man and a combat leader as they come.

The guy turned to us and said "I suppose you 'liberals' think we ought to just let the Arabs take over our country and kill all the adults and convert our children to muslim (sic) huh?"

Richie--"Not likely in any event, but we don't have an army worth the name anymore, thanks your lord Bush. I'm halfway through a tour over there and I don't see any way we can prevent a civil war, let alone win anything but what do I know? Back here in the land of SUVs and roses, you have a clearer picture don't you?" (I had always thought Richie was a republican--what's up with this?)

One of the others said something to the effect that Richie was full of shit, which he countered by producing his leave form and ID card from his wallet.

"We're winning. Why else would the insurgents do these large attacks that they know they can't win? It's frustration, or make sure they stay in the news. Things are getting better there all the time, but you probably can't see it at your level."

"If we're winning, how come the insurgents are even able to stage these large attacks? If we had that level of control, they wouldn't have any safe assembly areas from which to attack us in any numbers. All we can do is react to them, which means they have the initiative. That's bad," I said.

"Three things," said Richie, "one, attacking Iraqis is a great way to start a civil war-that's a lovely thought-a three-way civil war with us in the middle, and two," he said, "they're attacking us more than enough as it is, thank you, and three," he asked, "are you in the military?"

"No, but I support the troops and our Commander in Chief," she replied.

"Then what's this 'WE' shit? It's not your ass over there getting IED'ed and RPG'ed and shot at and mortared, so who the fuck are you to talk about 'we'?"

"Come on, I'm sure the young republicans here all have yellow ribbon magnets on the SUVs their daddies bought them-go easy, man. They support us," I said. (One could, in fact, hear the italics in my voice.)

"He's been there, and got the t-shirt," Richie said, making a twirling motion with his finger to me. I turned around so they could see the image on the back of my shirt.

"Well, with attitudes like yours, we won't win," one of them said.

"Then why don't you join up so you can go over there and show us how it's done?" asked Richie. They looked away. "That's what I thought," he said, "so why don't you all shut your fucking yaps since you don't even believe in your own shit enough to stand up for it?"